Journey of taste: Chocolate makes you feel happy, it is also beneficial for the heart, history is very interesting

Swad Ka Safarnama: In India, the trend of sweets on the occasion of Diwali festival is years old. One to one sweets are made in the country. The tradition of giving sweets as gifts on Diwali is years old, but chocolate has made a dent in this tradition. This sweet diet has brought a lot of change in the culture of sweets in India. Now, if anywhere you get to hear that ‘something good, something sweet’, then believe that it is talking about chocolate and some festival of India is related to it. Chocolate is not an Indian sweet and it entered the country only two centuries ago. But now even children, elders, youth and housewives are crazy about it. The special thing is that earlier chocolate was consumed as a pungent and salty drink. Later, when it caught ‘sweetness’, it spread all over the world. The biggest feature of chocolate is that it provides instant energy and energy to the body. Chocolate also gives a feeling of happiness.

The taste of chocolate is like a magnet

Chocolate is famous all over the world as a dessert but it is a fruit. Actually there is a seed (fruit) extracted from the pod called cocoa, which is dried and fermented and grinded to make bitter chocolate. Then sweet and delicious chocolate is prepared by adding sugar, butter, solid milk, milk fat and other ingredients for taste. It is one of the most popular foods (diet) in the world. Normal chocolate is made from crushed chocolate, as well as it is used in ice cream, dessert, cake, pudding, chip cookies, candy and other food items.

You go to any country in the world. Whether the country is rich or poor, country of any language, religion or class, chocolate is being eaten there in some form or the other. It is considered like a magnet and food experts believe that its consumption provides happiness in the mind and brain. In India, the custom of sprinkling sweet chocolate powder over coffee and drinking it is very unique.

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Chocolate was once consumed as a salty and astringent drink.

The story of chocolate is as wide as ‘Hari Anant, Hari Katha Anant’. It has a business of billions of dollars all over the world. The lives of Europeans and Americans are settled in chocolate. You will be surprised that when chocolate came into vogue, for years it was made into a bitter and salty drink. According to food historians, in the olden days, Americans used to make a frothy and spicy drink by grinding cocoa seeds, adding different types of pungent spices, salt, etc. to it and mixing it with cold water. In those days it was also used as medicine and it was believed to be beneficial in gas and stomach pain. The credit for making bitter chocolate sweet goes to Europe. There milk, sugar and other flavors were added to it after removing the pungency and salt. Then it was considered a fashionable drink of the rich. Later, by thickening it, the method of making chocolate was prepared. There is information that Mexico first made chocolate, after that chocolate started being made in Spain and Italy, which later spread all over the world. There are many ifs and buts on this issue, but it is a fact that these countries started the practice of solid chocolate.

born in mexico and mizo american center

The special thing is that the whole world (including Western and European countries) is fond of chocolate, but about 70 percent of the world’s supply comes from West Africa. The taste of cocoa beans found in the trees of this region is completely different and better, which is liked all over the world. However, food historians believe that the earliest evidence of chocolate can be seen in the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica, now known as Mexico. The citizens of Mesoamerica (Aztec civilization) believed that cocoa was the food of the gods.

Chocolate is originally a Spanish word. image-canva

On the other hand, Sushma Nathani, Associate Professor (Senior Research) in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University, USA, also believes that the origin of chocolate is Mexico and the Mizo American Center, which includes South Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. . He says that there are many facts about the word ‘chocolate’ such as this word is basically a Spanish language word. It is also said that the word chocolate comes from Maya and Aztec civilizations. The meaning of this word is bitter and somewhat sour.

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Its history in India is not very ‘historical’

Talking about India, the history of chocolate here is not very ‘historical’. Cocoa is believed to have been introduced to India in the late eighteenth century during the British Empire. In 1798, the British planted delicate varieties of cocoa in the Courtallam region of Tamil Nadu (then Madras) in South India to satisfy the craving for chocolate. Cocoa seeds grew from the trees but they were not very favorable. Later in the 1960s, official cultivation of cocoa started in India. In the book Cocoa by English language authors G.A.R. Wood and R.Lass, information has been given that large-scale cultivation of cocoa started in South India from the 1960s and 70s and it is concentrated in Kerala, Madras and Mysore in South India. It started growing abundantly in favorable weather.

The states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are considered to be the most favorable states for the production of cocoa in India. Image-Canva

At that time Cadbury started cocoa cultivation with the help of World Bank and Kerala Agricultural University. Today, the states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are considered the most favorable states for the production of cocoa in India. The special thing is that only one percent of the total consumption of cocoa is produced in these states of India. The rest is supplied from abroad. Despite this, the business of chocolate in India is gaining momentum very fast.

Why are chocolate advertisements happy and energetic?

So is chocolate extremely beneficial for the body as well? And does it freshen up the mood. The special thing is that in all the advertisements made for chocolate, chocolate is associated with happiness, fresh mood, so does eating chocolate really make us feel happy. Talking about nutrients first, roughly 479 calories, 30 grams of fat, 63.1 grams of carbohydrate, 4.2 grams of protein are found in normal chocolate. These nutrients show that eating chocolate provides energy in the body. Eating this also gives a feeling of happiness and freshness.

Chocolate gives a feeling of happiness and freshness. Image-Canva

According to food expert and nutrition consultant Nilanjana Singh, it is true that chocolate gives a feeling of happiness and freshness. In fact, when chocolate is chewed, it releases endorphins (helpful in increasing happy hormones). The amino acids in chocolate are linked to the production of seratonin (a mood enhancer) in the brain (neurotransmitter), which is responsible for producing feelings of happiness. It is also believed that drinking two cups of hot chocolate a day can help keep the brain healthy and reduce memory loss in older people.

Chocolate is also beneficial for the heart

According to Singh, the consumption of chocolate has the potential to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. This is because it helps in reducing the level of LDL or bad cholesterol in the blood, which is one of the factors responsible for stroke and heart diseases. Cocoa has anti-inflammatory effects that can help ward off chronic diseases and keep you healthy. A study also suggests that cocoa can regulate the bacterial composition of the gut. Chocolate is also considered better for the skin. Actually the bioactive compound found in it protects from sun radiation, can improve blood circulation in the skin. The use of chocolate sharpens the mind. The amount of flavanols (a group of nutrients that help with blood vessel function) has been linked to improved brain function. Research suggests that cocoa is beneficial in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Moderate consumption of chocolate does not cause any harm. For the body, not more than 30 to 60 grams of chocolate should be eaten in a day. Eating more chocolate will increase the daily calorie count, which can lead to weight gain and other problems. Caffeine, an ingredient in chocolate, stimulates the central nervous system, boosting energy and can improve a person’s mood, but it has no nutritional value, so consuming it in excess can make the heart beat faster. May increase, due to this one may have to struggle with anxiety, depression, restlessness and sleeplessness.

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Tags: food, Lifestyle